I recently accompanied Susan to her CSA, a Community Supported Agriculture farm in which she owns a share. Her investment provides her with generous weekly bags of beautiful, fresh organic vegetables throughout the growing season, as well as cut flowers and value-added products made on the farm.

This is a really cool place, special in that it’s not only organic, it’s set apart from the petroleum-fueled world by the South river, the only bridge being scaled for pedestrians.

All of the farm work is done by hand and by horse; manual labor weeds the beds and manages the gardens, and all of the heavy work, including plowing and tilling and hauling loads, is accomplished by horse power.

And that’s why we’re here today – Gus, a working horse, had a leg problem, which Susan has been attending to, and she was here on a follow-up visit.

We cross the bridge to this little Utopia, leaving the noise of the twenty-first century behind:

…and enter a world of simple yet elegant machines:

No gas tanks here, just hay fields and pastures.

And the “parts shop” doesn’t smell of oil and degreasers, but rather of hay and sweet manure:

Susan was here to dig deep into Gus’s leg and loins…

“Say what???…”

Yeah, Gus, you heard that right, and you’re gonna love it, trust me.

Susan leaning into it…

…and Gus loving it:

The result was that Gus, expected to be sidelined for at least two weeks, was back to work in two days, and has been productively pain free since his therapy.

Susan is something of an animal empath, and gets a great deal of satisfaction from this aspect of her work.

This week I’ve been hot on my pal Gizmo, for at least a couple of reasons. First, I can set him up on the passenger seat and be ready for any wildlife I encounter (which I didn’t;) second, I can take photos as close as 12-1/2 feet with a field of vision about four inches across, or as far as infinity with a field of vision measured in light years; and third, because I can take photos in the rain without ever leaving the dry comfort of my driver’s seat.

That last one figured heavily in this past week’s wet weather.

At any rate, here are a few snags from the past few days.

Honeysuckle:

…A yellow violet:

Pink Azaleas:

…and a stand of Northern Pitchers up in a fen in Rowe:

These will come along nicely as the summer unfolds.

And because I mentioned a broader field of vision, here’s a shot from tonight’s sunset: